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Scary

Something really scary happened today that I want to pass on because it could have been a terrible accident, and could have happened to anyone. L, S and I were in a parking lot. As always, I was carrying S and holding L’s hand as we walked through the rain to the car. We arrived at the car, passenger side, so I opened S’s door and as I was putting her in I instructed L to walk around the car to start getting in on his side to get out of the rain. I was one second behind him. I put S in, and followed L to help him in. (Putting S in just entails clicking her seat into the base, so it really only took a second.)

As L rounded the corner from the back of the car to the driver’s side, a car came out of nowhere. The driver had been parked in the spot facing the empty spot next to mine. She drove straight through the empty spot to pull out, never expecting a 3-year-old to come walking around the corner. Suddenly, her SUV was right there, right where L was walking! I shouted “STOP!” in a way that made L stop on a dime and the car screech to a halt. Even though I was only a second behind him, I was too far to reach him if everyone hadn’t stopped immediately.

The driver was a mom who had just been in the bookstore with us. She was so shaken by what happened. Worse than I was even. Imagine, you’re driving out of a parking spot and almost hit a tiny kid!

Anyway, it was obviously the wrong move on my part to put S in first and to have L start walking around the car ahead of me. Rain or no rain, the kid needs to either stand there and wait, or I need to lug S around to his side first.

As L is getting bigger and more capable – he can open his door and climb right into his seat – I’ve let my guard down a bit too much. He is still far too small to be seen; and even if we’re right at our car, I need to remember that we are still in fact in a parking lot, so holding hands still has to be the rule.

I feel like my mistake could have happened to anyone. (Right? It’s not gross negligence on my part, right???) So I thought I’d send a reminder out about how quick something so bad could happen.

L was pretty quiet about the whole affair. He just stood there facing the car and didn’t say anything to the driver as she was asking if he was OK. It’s like he was stunned. When we did get into the car and I explained to him what happened, he said, “I KNOW, Mommy. I still very small boy and cars can’t see me.”

I’m OK. I was shaken a bit at the time but just had to deal with getting out of there. I didn’t really feel the full impact until I told T and wrote the post. Now I’m shaking.

Oh Allison, I know this was a long time ago now (as I read every single post, lol), but I feel for you! That would be so terrifying, I would be shaking too. I already have anxiety/panic attacks sometimes about the millions of possible scenarios that could harm my 2 year old! But here is some late reassurance, it definitely wasn’t neglect on your part. Just a mistake. Thank god it turned out to be a harmless mistake! It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security when they start getting more capable. My S is really good walking up/down stairs by herself (with me behind her). She’s also good about not going up unless I’m with her. I should have known there would be ONE time where she did! I was pouring her some milk before bedtime, and she started to climb up without me. I could hear her (toddler elephant feet, lol!), and started to run and get her. About halfway up she heard me and went to turn around… tumble tumble CRASH. Poor baby had a big ole’ goose egg of a bruise on her head. I kept repeating my thanks that it wasn’t more serious (broken limb or… neck!). Now I ALWAYS keep the gate up, I’ve stopped being lax. It’s almost like we constantly have to remind ourselves of the worse case scenario (fall down stairs and die, walk around the car and get hit), and always act to prevent it. Which is kind of morbid, but worth it if it protects them, right? :S

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I've learned that motherhood is a series of shocks and disappointments, disgusting things under my fingernails, horrifying smells and constant irritation. There’s all the joy too, but that’s the stuff you’ve already heard about. Here’s the stuff that you might not hear about.